Though iPhone OS 4's real potency will come when developers seize the new tools and build…
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No Multitasking

The biggie. But, you know, duh. iPhone 3.0 has been barely tolerable on iPhone 3G hardware. Running more processes in the background? With half the RAM of the 3GS, that's just bad news dude. Still, it's a legitimate gripe from a normal person's perspective: "Why can't my iPhone, which looks just like my friend's iPhone, play Pandora in the background too?"

You know, I could handle no multitasking, actually, if it meant that the software would be optimized enough to return to iPhone 2.0 levels of speed and responsiveness. I just want Messages to open in under 5 seconds. That's all. But I know it won't. And I sigh.

No Wallpapers

That's right, no fancy custom wallpapers, no girls in bikinis peering through your apps, or the glow of Mount Doom spewing whatever it is giant evil mountains in Mordor happen to spew when it's the backdrop for your serious Twitter app addiction. Honestly, though I think it's kind of a blessing. The visual noise of a crazy wallpaper, new drop shadows from the icons and other superfluous graphical elements add up to some serious glossy grossness in iPhone 4.0. Give me straight up, classy black any day. But I'm sure a lot of you feel screwed. And the fact remains, not having the option for people who want abuse their phone and their eyes is certainly screwing over the iPhone 3G.

UPDATE

No Zoom in the Camera App

Our sad little camera is just 2 megapixels, doesn't autofocus, and doesn't record video. Now it doesn't do digital zoom, either. Whoops, I guess there is a camera zoom. Many apologies.

We haven't noticed anything else major missing—the new photos app, with albums and faces is there, along with Folders and Game Center. Of course, we figure Apple won't let us miss out on those awesome iAds either. We are talking about beta software, but if you have a now officially old and busted iPhone 3G, and notice anything else missing, do drop a line.